June 13, 2005

Skoll Foundation Launches National Grassroots Philanthropy Campaign in Conjunction with PBS Series The New Heroes

PALO ALTO, Calif. – June 13, 2005 – The Skoll Foundation has kicked off a new House Party initiative that merges the impact of television with the reach of the Internet to raise awareness about the power of social entrepreneurs and inspire action on their behalf.

Following a $1.7 million investment in The New Heroes, a four-hour PBS documentary series about social entrepreneurs, the foundation created a DVD with four compelling stories excerpted from the 12-story series. The foundation is giving the free DVDs to individuals who host informal gatherings and grassroots House Parties across the country.

Hosted by Robert Redford, The New Heroes tells 12 dramatic stories of social entrepreneurs who are undaunted by the chronic challenges of poverty, illness, unemployment, violence and ignorance. With a revolutionary passion for transforming society, brilliant insights to achieve fundamental change and an unstoppable will to overcome obstacles, these individuals tackle the most intractable social problems and achieve extraordinary success.

The New Heroes will premiere on two consecutive Tuesdays, June 28 and July 5, from 8 to 10 p.m. on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)

Founded by eBay’s founding president, Jeff Skoll, the Skoll Foundation recognizes that technology can be leveraged in new ways to establish a connection between Americans who want to help and social entrepreneurs with worthy projects around the world that merit their support.

“Book clubs focus on a book. Why not create a DVD to stimulate informal House Parties?” asks Sandy Herz, vice president of marketing and communications at the Skoll Foundation. “Great documentary storytelling is so powerful, it is the ideal catalyst to move people to action. It is a new medium to spark grassroots philanthropy.”

The DVD is available for free online at www.thenewheroes.org. After watching it, viewers can return to the same Web site to make a direct donation to projects of the “New Heroes” through a secure online site run by GlobalGiving. The Skoll Foundation will match up to $100,000 in donations to “New Heroes” projects listed on the site through August 31.

PBS offers additional resource materials to support the series at http://www.pbs.org/newheroes, including biographies of the “New Heroes,” materials aimed at teaching children about social entrepreneurship and individual social responsibility, a quiz called “Are You the Next New Hero?” and links to organizations promoting social entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurs have the vision, leadership skills, problem solving capacity and determination of successful entrepreneurs in the business sector. For social entrepreneurs, however, profit is measured not in dollars and cents but in lives transformed and dignity restored.

Award-winning producers Charles Stuart, Bonni Cohen and Carl Byker traveled to Bangladesh, Brazil, Peru, India, Egypt, Thailand, Zambia, Kenya and the United States to capture the 12 stories of the “New Heroes.” Whether it’s about stopping the enslavement of children, bringing electricity to rural families, introducing affordable cataract surgery to prevent unnecessary blindness or inventing a low-cost irrigation pump to increase the fertility of farms, each story illustrates the transformation that results when an innovative idea is coupled with a strategy for action and a passion for change.

The New Heroes is a production of Oregon Public Broadcasting in association with Malone-Grove Productions, Inc. Major funding was provided by the Skoll Foundation, with additional funding provided by Calvert and the Flora Family Foundation

The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs, who are individuals dedicated to pioneering new solutions that result in lasting improvements to complex social problems.

The Skoll Foundation invests in social entrepreneurs through three award programs. It connects them through an online community called Social Edge at www.socialedge.org
and via the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University. It celebrates social entrepreneurs through projects such as The New Heroes. For more information, visit www.skollfoundation.org.